MARCO DI LAURO/GETTY IMAGESCountry singer Chely Wright, here pictured, left, with Rebecca Romijn and Leeann Tweeden entertaining troops in Baghdad in 2003, has come out as a lesbian in People magazine.

Country singer Chely Wright has outs herself as a lesbian in People magazine this week. Oddly enough, this week Wright is also releasing a memoir and has a new album out. What are the chances?

She tells the magazine that she didn't want to be the first country music artist to reveal his or her sexuality, but "Nothing in my life has been more magical than the moment I decided to come out," she says. (Internet commenters have been quick to point out that k.d. langcame out in 1992, although she had somewhat transitioned to pop by that point.)

"I hid everything for my music," says Wright, 39, who grew up in Kansas, moved to Nashville to pursue her singing career, and was named top new female vocalist by the Academy of Country Music in 1997. The synopsis for her memoir, "Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer," doesn't mention her homosexuality, but it does say that Wright promised God that she would keep her "sinning" to a minimum if he'd get her to the stage of the Grand Ole Opry. Her first album in five years, "Lifted Off the Ground," is also out tomorrow.